Chinese Graphic Design from the 1920's and 1930's Nowadays it’s hard to imagine a time when graphic design didn’t involve sitting in front of a computer screen. Perhaps that’s why it is so intriguing to look through this collection of vintage Chinese graphic designs from the 1920′s and 1930′s. The illustrations come from the book Chinese Graphic Design in the Twentieth Century by Scott Minick and Jiao Ping. Lu Xun, who introduced modern woodblock techniques to China, influenced many of the design artists at the time. See Also IN THE HEIGHT OF THE DEPRESSION: VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE According to 50 Watts, “Lu Xun taught many Western techniques [and] he always encouraged designers to seek inspiration in Chinese design history.” Via: 50Watts
Four Famous New Year's Resolution Lists: Jonathan Swift, Susan Sontag, Marilyn Monroe, Woody Guthrie by Maria Popova “Stay glad. Keep hoping machine running. Love everybody. ‘Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions, but instead of regurgitating the most common ones — like changing habit loops, exercising more, and being more productive — here is a look at some of history’s more unusual resolution lists from the diaries, letters, and personal effects of cultural icons: Writing in A Tale of a Tub in 1699, at the age of 32, Jonathan Swift — best-known as the author of Gulliver’s Travels — compiled a list of 17 aspirations for his far future, titled “When I come to be old.” When I come to be old. 1699.Not to marry a young Woman. via Lists of Note In 1972, 39-year-old Susan Sontag noted in her diary: Susan Sontag by Peter Hujar, gelatin silver print, 1975 Kindness, kindness, kindness.I want to make a New Year’s prayer, not a resolution. Then, in early 1977, she resolved: Starting tomorrow — if not today: I will get up every morning no later than eight. Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
Rick Poynor's Book List Books led me to typography and graphic design. Love of reading became love of the medium in which the words are printed, of the type that composes these words, of the substrate that supports them, of the page layouts that give form to narrative and argument, of the covers and bindings that hold these texts and pictures together, of the lettering and imagery that seek to express a book’s essential nature. . . . View the complete text Books led me to typography and graphic design. Graphic design books are a kind of meta-book. Several of these titles are books of particular significance to me, but none has been selected only for that reason. Living Large in a 130-Square-Foot Apartment | Wired Design With dense urban centers and housing that was built hundreds of years ago, Europeans have long known how to make their tiny spaces feel triumphant. But this apartment in the Montparnasse neighborhood of Paris is an above-and-beyond exemplar of hyper-efficient, micro-urban living. Architects Marc Baillargeon and Julie Nabucet carved a 130-square-foot space out of a Hausmann-style building to create a flexible yet utterly comfortable pied-à-terre. “Our approach to architecture is that the house is not so much a machine for living, but a tool for living well,” says Baillargeon. The apartment was once the master bedroom of a larger apartment, which should give you a pretty good idea of its postage-stamp size. Thibaut Ménard, a student and the son of the apartment’s owner, lives there now. The smartest design trick was to create a split-level floorplan. The split-level floorplan creates the illusion of separate spaces without using any walls or dividers. “I learned to be tidier,” he says.
John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter by Maria Popova “If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.” Nobel laureate John Steinbeck (1902-1968) might be best-known as the author of East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men, but he was also a prolific letter-writer. Steinbeck: A Life in Letters constructs an alternative biography of the iconic author through some 850 of his most thoughtful, witty, honest, opinionated, vulnerable, and revealing letters to family, friends, his editor, and a circle of equally well-known and influential public figures. Among his correspondence is this beautiful response to his eldest son Thom’s 1958 letter, in which the teenage boy confesses to have fallen desperately in love with a girl named Susan while at boarding school. New York November 10, 1958Dear Thom:We had your letter this morning. Complement with six tips on writing from Steinbeck. via Letters of Note Donating = Loving Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter. Share on Tumblr
The Most Beautiful and Imaginative Public Schools in the World Albert Einstein, responsible for the world’s most famous equation and quite possibly the smartest man to ever live, said that “logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” With that in mind, surely a child’s imagination is something to cherish and nourish. Enter the public school system. Architects and local governments around the world are now fighting the good fight against dismal, uninspiring schools and the groundbreaking results are re-shaping the learning experience for our future generations. Kindergarten Kekec by Arhitektura Jure Kotnik — Ljubljana, Slovenia Image credit: Miran Kambič via House Variety An extension of a typical Slovenian prefab kindergarten from the ’80s, the colorful, interactive design is a response to the school’s lack of play equipment.
IKEA introduces a clutter-free entertainment system: HDTV, media player included You’d think that in the second decade of the 21st century, cords, wires, and antennas would be rendered obsolete. While we’re still on our way to a completely wireless lifestyle, IKEA has come up with an immediate solution to our hatred for cables with the UPPLEVA entertainment system that can discreetly hide your wires so you can enjoy a sleek and clutter-free room. The UPPLEVA system contains a smart TV that has all the outlets, USB, and HDMI slots along the sides, so it maintains a thin exterior. The smart TV that comes with the set boasts full high definition display, LED technology, Wi-Fi integration, and 2.1 surround sound system. “We’ve had very clear signals from customers that there is a need to be able to buy and integrate home electronics with the furniture in a simple way,” IKEA Sweden sales chief Tolga Oncu told Reuters. ”With the way IKEA works, the way we can offer our products at the lowest prices on the market, we are convinced that this will be a really big success.”
Letters of Note In April of 1937, Jamaican-born mechanic Canute Frankson left his home in Detroit and travelled to Europe to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of approximately 2,800 American volunteers who were keen to offer support in the fight against Franco and his supporters during the Spanish Civil War. Three months after arriving, Frankson wrote the following powerful letter to a friend back home in an effort to explain why he, "a Negro," had chosen to participate in "a war between whites who for centuries have held us in slavery." Frankson did return home just over a year later; sadly, he died shortly afterwards in a road traffic accident. As we know, Franco was ultimately victorious. Albacete, Spain July 6, 1937My Dear Friend:I'm sure that by this time you are still waiting for a detailed explanation of what has this international struggle to do with my being here.
Hackney Wick's The Walls Have Ears mural Collaborating with the local community, Bread, a creative collective based in East London, has just completed a 100 metre long typographic mural along a street that leads to London's Olympic Park... Bread essentially wanted to brighten up an unloved, bleak street called White Post Lane and managed to secure funding from the London Legacy Development Corporation to paint the mural which is, according to Bread's Victoria Walmsley, based around the industrial past of the area (Hackney Wick). "The six-month project involved various workshops, interviews, research and a blog-style website and social media to engage the local community," she explains. The mural, entitled The Walls Have Ears, features words and phrases suggested by local residents that hint at the area's history. 'Fridge Mountain' references the area's biggest landmark pre-Games: a 20-foot high pile of defunct domestic appliances which had the dubious honour of being the biggest heap of fridges in Europe. 15 Comments
Here’s how one designer reimagined the Pringles chips packaging Pringles are pretty delicious. Where I used to work, the HR person will often restock the kitchen’s snack table with various goodies and Pringles were always the first to run out. But the tall, narrow tube design is difficult for sharing, and the more you munch into the chips, the deeper you have to reach into the tube. That’s awkward design. In comes the redesigned packaging for Pringles by young interior designer Dohyuk Kwon who created a way for the chips to be more shareable. This Bloom Chips concept design initially seems like an ordinary tall tube we’re used to seeing, but a quick unpackaging reveals that the tube expands into a bowl. “Its mechanism is more complex than it looks,” Kwon tells Fast Company Design. The Bloom Chips design recently won a Red Dot Award under its Interior Accessories category. “I didn’t know Jiffy Pop until a few minutes ago,” Kwon replies. What do you think of this Bloom Chips packaging? Editors' Recommendations
The 100 Best iPhone Apps OB Roundup Do you need new iPhone apps? Are you tired of the same old same old? This list of the 100 best iPhone apps is designed to help you find new or new-to-you apps that will make life with your smartphone simply better. Before you start downloading apps willy-nilly, make sure you've updated your operating system to the latest version (iOS 8.1.3 at the time of this writing). If you have an iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 6, you get to experience a few perks that people with older iPhone models don't have. Here at PCMag, my colleagues and I test hundreds of mobile apps each year, writing reviews and sharing helpful tips when we find great ones. Other apps on this list come from our own personal use as well as the advice of readers, friends, and colleagues. Before you check out the complete list of the 100 best iPhone apps, let me address a few frequently asked questions: 100 slides? Wait. You left out some of the most important apps, like Safari, iTunes, and Siri!